Archbishop Dolan to join black pro-life leaders in New York rally Monday

BRONX, NY, Jan. 10, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Rally for Life and Justice is set to be held at Manhattan Bible Church in the Bronx in New York Monday at 7 p.m. Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the Catholic archbishop of New York and President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has announced that he will join the event to offer his support.

The rally has been organized largely in opposition to Bill 371, a pending piece of legislation that targets pro-life crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs).

Dr. Alveda King, Director of African American Outreach for the New York-based Priests for Life, said that it is an “outrage that there is an attempt to stifle the life-saving work of New York’s Crisis Pregnancy Centers.”

“We come together in a chorus of protest against Bill 371 - legislation that would require pregnancy centers, to post signage in front of their buildings that would discourage women seeking alternatives to abortion from entering their facilities,” she continued.

The Primary target of Bill 371 is Chris Slattery, who founded the first pregnancy center in New York. Today, he oversees 12 CPCs - one across the street from Planned Parenthood at E. 149th Street.

“Since 1985, our CPCs have saved 38,000 babies through one-on-one counseling to over 100,000 women by providing education about fetal development and alternatives to abortion including parental support and adoption,” said Slattery.

Last week statistics were released that found that 41% of all pregnancies in New York City end in abortion. As is the case throughout the country, Blacks were significantly more likely to abort than Whites, Asians, or Hispanics. Whereas Blacks have a 59.8% abortion rate in New York, Hispanics have a rate of 41.3%, Asians 22.7% and Whites 20.4%.

The leaders are expected to speak about the abortion statistics in New York and to urge the community to speak out against Bill 371.